Russia: Germany Urged To Join Transporter Project

Strasbourg, 10 October 1997 (RFE/RL) - A Kremlin spokesman said today that Russia had proposed to Germany to join a project to build the European cargo transporter of the 21st century, involving Russian, Ukrainian, French and German capital.

Sergei Yastrzhembsky said Russian President Boris Yeltsin presented German Chancellor Helmut Kohl with the proposal at a meeting between the two leaders earlier today on the sidelines of the Council of Europe summit in Strasbourg.

Yastrzhembsky said the project was also discussed at Yeltsin's meeting yesterday with French President Jacques Chirac.

The proposed cargo transporter, which would be among the largest in the world, would be based on the Russian-Ukrainian Antonov-70 design.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian delegation in Strasbourg declined to comment. The Soviet-built Antonov is located in Ukraine.